Life Moves Pretty Fast: The John Hughes Mixtapes boxset review

John Hughes’ legendary 80s films soundtracked a generation, his new boxset Life Moves Pretty Fast combines the hit tracks all in one place. But does it still have the same impact? Find out what we thought…

No movie director in the 80s spun tunes like John Hughes. That run of teen-flick classics – from Sixteen Candles through to Ferris Bueller’s Day Off via the likes of The Breakfast Club and Pretty In Pink – virtually invented the needle-drop soundtrack.

Finally, Hughes’ music supervisor Tarquin Gotch has masterminded a vast 74-track 4CD/73-track 6LP boxset that now collects together many of those songs in one place.

Buy Life Moves Pretty Fast: The John Hughes Mixtapes LP boxset on Amazon

What marks this compilation out is how deep Hughes – and Gotch – went for their cuts. While other movies of the era chased the latest pop wonder or pulled some past jukebox fave, Hughes’ films gave a platform to more alternative – and often British – fare.

What other Hollywood moviemaker would reach for Dr Calculus’ Full Of Love (from 1988’s She’s Having A Baby), The Specials’ Little Bitch (Sixteen Candles) or The Beat’s March Of The Swivel Heads (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off)?

Okay, there are the odd mega-hitters (Spandau Ballet’s True, Sigue Sigue Sputnik’s Love Missile F1-11), but more often than not, this is a compilation of deep cuts both from artists you love (Echo & The Bunnymen, OMD, The Smiths) and bands that you’ve long since forgotten (Gene Loves Jezebel, Lick The Tins, Balaam And The Angel).

What’s included in John Hughes’ Life Moves Pretty Fast boxset?

The extensive boxset includes 73 tracks across 6LPs taken from Hughes’ iconic films like The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Pretty In Pink, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Some Kind Of Wonderful, Planes, Trains And Automobiles, and Uncle Buck.

Additionally, the boxset includes an in-depth 24-page booklet exploring Hughes’ work, track-by-track sleeve notes, and features memories from Hughes,

Buy Life Moves Pretty Fast: The John Hughes Mixtapes LP boxset on Amazon

Life Moves Pretty Fast: The John Hughes Mixtapes tracklist

Disc 1:

1. Kajagoogoo (Instrumental) [Sixteen Candles] – Kajagoogoo
2. Don’t You (Forget About Me) [The Breakfast Club] – Simple Minds
3. If You Leave (Pretty in Pink) – Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
4. Weird Science (Weird Science) – Oingo Boingo
5. Brilliant Mind (Some Kind of Wonderful) – Furniture
6. She’s Having a Baby (She’s Having a Baby) – Dave Wakeling
7. Midnight Sun – The Flowerpot Men
8. Pretty in Pink (Pretty in Pink) – The Psychedelic Furs
9. I Go Crazy (Some Kind of Wonderful) – Flesh for Lulu
10. Full of Love (She’s Having a Baby) – Dr. Calculus
11. Can’t Help Falling in Love (Some Kind of Wonderful) – Lick The Tins
12. Six Days On the Road (Planes, Trains and Automobiles) – Steve Earle & The Dukes

Disc 2:

1. You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet Baby (She’s Having a Baby) – Kirsty MacColl
2. Left of Center (Pretty in Pink) – Suzanne Vega & Joe Jackson
3. Do Anything (Some Kind of Wonderful) – Pete Shelley
4. It’s All in the Game (She’s Having a Baby) – Carmel
5. Power to Believe (Instrumental) [Planes, Trains and Automobiles] – The Dream Academy
6. This Woman’s Work (She’s Having a Baby) – Kate Bush
7. March of the Swivelheads (Rotating Heads – Dub Version) [Ferris Bueller’s Day Off] – The Beat
8. When It Started to Begin (Sixteen Candles) – Nick Heyward
9. Tesla Girls (Weird Science) – Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
10. BAD (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) – Big Audio Dynamite
11. Eighties (Weird Science) – Killing Joke
12. Little Bitch (Sixteen Candles) – The Specials

Disc 3:

1. Desire (Come and Get It) [US Club Mix] She’s Having a Baby] – Gene Loves Jezebel
2. Slide (Uncle Buck) – Flesh for Lulu
3. Haunted When the Minutes Drag (She’s Having a Baby) – Love and Rockets
4. Love Missile F1-11 (Ultraviolence Mix) [Ferris Bueller’s Day Off] – Sigue Sigue Sputnik
5. Method to My Madness (Weird Science) – The Lords of the New Church
6. The Hardest Walk (Single Version) [Some Kind of Wonderful] – The Jesus and Mary Chain
7. Bring On the Dancing Horses (Pretty in Pink) – Echo & the Bunnymen
8. Tenderness (Weird Science) – General Public
9. I’m Afraid (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) – Blue Room
10. Round, Round (Pretty in Pink) – Belouis Some
11. If You Were Here (Sixteen Candles) – Thompson Twins
12. Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want (Instrumental) [Ferris Bueller’s Day Off] – The Dream Academy

Disc 4:

1. Oh Yeah (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) – Yello
2. Modigliani (Lost in Your Eyes) [Planes, Trains and Automobiles] – Book of Love
3. Try a Little Tenderness (Pretty in Pink) – Otis Redding
4. Gloria: In Excelsis Deo (Sixteen Candles) – Patti Smith
5. Ba-na-na-bam-boo (Planes, Trains and Automobiles) – Westworld
6. Ring Me Up (Sixteen Candles) – Divinyls
7. Drummin’ Man (She’s Having a Baby) – Topper Headon
8. Catch My Fall (Some Kind of Wonderful) – Billy Idol
9.  Cherish (Pretty in Pink) – The Association
10. Music for a Found Harmonium (She’s Having a Baby) – Penguin Cafe Orchestra
11. Radio People (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) – Zapp
12. Cry Like This (Some Kind of Wonderful) – Blue Room

Disc 5: 

1. Mess Around (Movie ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles’) – Ray Charles
2. Lipstick, Powder and Paint (Uncle Buck) – Joe Turner
3. (Today I Met) the Boy I’m Gonna Marry (Sixteen Candles) – Darlene Love
4. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [She’s Having a Baby] – Marvin Gaye
5. Juke Box Baby (Uncle Buck) – Perry Como/Mitchell Ayres & His Orchestra/The Ray Charles Singers
6. Mr. Sandman (Uncle Buck) – The Chordettes
7. The Peter Gunn Theme (Sixteen Candles) – Ray Anthony and His Orchestra
8. Holiday Road (National Lampoon’s Vacation) – Lindsey Buckingham
9. Back in Baby’s Arms (Planes, Trains and Automobiles) – Emmylou Harris
10. Rhythm of Life (Uncle Buck) – Hugh Harris
11. True (Sixteen Candles) – Spandau Ballet
12. Abuse (Some Kind of Wonderful) – Propaganda
13. The Edge of Forever (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) – The Dream Academy

Disc 6:

1. Lost Again (Planes, Trains and Automobiles) – Yello
2. Crazy Love (She’s Having a Baby) – Bryan Ferry
3. Positively Lost Me (Pretty in Pink) – The Rave-Ups
4. Don’t Worry Baby (Weird Science) – Los Lobos
5. Continental Trailways Blues (Planes, Trains and Automobiles) – Steve Earle
6. Rev Up! (Sixteen Candles) – The Revillos
7. More Than a Feeling (She’s Having a Baby) – Boston
8. I’ll Show You Something Special (Planes, Trains and Automobiles) – Balaam and the Angel
9. Rave Up/Shut Up (Pretty in Pink) – The Rave-Ups
10. Beaver Patrol (The Great Outdoors) – Pop Will Eat Itself
11. Turning Japanese (Sixteen Candles) – The Vapors
12. Red River Rock (Planes, Trains and Automobiles) – Silicon Teens